Toronto, CANADA – Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) gave millions of dollars to a Canadian non-profit run by Black Lives matter co-founder Patrice Khan-Cullors’ wife to buy a 10,000-square foot mansion in Toronto that once served as the Communist Party’s headquarters.
Public records showed that Khan-Cullors’ wife, Janaya Khan, set up a non-profit called M4BJ and purchased the mansion for the equivalent of about $6.3 million (in U.S. dollars) in July of 2021, the New York Post reported.
The money for the venture that would be named the Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism was transferred to M4BJ by BLBGNF.
The purchase of the Toronto property became an issue amidst rising concerns about BLMGNF’s lack of financial transparency, the New York Post reported.
Khan-Cullors, a self-proclaimed Marxist, resigned as executive director of the national Black Lives Matter group she co-founded in May of 2021 after allegations of malfeasance arose when the public learned she had spent $3.2 million on new homes for herself in Georgia and Los Angeles.
She denied having used Black Lives Matter donations to buy the ostentatious properties but ended up resigning soon when BLMGNF donors started asking questions.
Activists Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele allegedly took over the running of BLMGNF when Khan-Cullors resigned, but then they suddenly quit in September of 2021, the New York Post reported.
They later put out a statement that said they were never in control of the organization.
BLMGNF raised more than $90 million in 2020 and had $60 million left in hand as of February of 2021, the New York Post reported.
Public filings showed that Thousand Currents transferred more than $66 million in cash to BLMGNF in October of 2020 when the grassroots fundraising organization broke with the group while Khan-Cullors was still in charge.
Themba and Bandele told the New York Post they had no idea who was managing Black Lives Matter’s money now.
Thanks to everyone for your support. pic.twitter.com/E268EUpVo4
— Makani Themba (@Makani_Themba) September 3, 2021
Two former senior members of Black Lives Matter Toronto resigned in January over the historic Communist mansion’s funding.
“For BLM Canada to take money from BLM Global Network for a building without consulting the community was unethical,” Sarah Jama tweeted. “For BLM Canada to refuse to answer questions from young black organizers goes against the spirit of movement building.”
Here is our statement on why we left BLMTO, @bolshevikbaddie "After over a year of struggling within @BLM_TO to improve internal processes, we left the group when, like many other people, we found out about @blmcanada_ $8 million dollar purchase of the @WildseedCentre_ " pic.twitter.com/p6ayoSztLY
— Sarah (slamma bamma) Jama (@SarahJama_) January 19, 2022
A Virginia-based watchdog group has also raised ethical and legal flags about the BLMGNF money, the New York Post reported.
“Unfortunately, this appears to be an epic abuse of public trust in which an entire movement’s resources are being squandered on the whims and financial mismanagement of one person and their inner circle of friends and family,” Tom Anderson, the director of the Government Integrity Project of the National and Legal Policy Center, said.
At the end of 2020, 10 local Black Lives Matter chapters accused the national organization and Khan-Cullors of cutting them out of the process and failing to distribute millions of dollars in donations that had been donated for the purpose of local grassroots activism.
The chapters signed a statement that demanded financial transparency by BLMGN, accountability by those running things at the top, and a voice in the decisions made about what to do with the contributions made to the organization, FOX News reported.
The signatories included Black Lives Matter groups from Philadelphia, DC, Chicago, Oklahoma City, San Diego, New Jersey, Denver, Indianapolis, the Hudson Valley, and Vancouver, Washington.
The statement alleged that the national organization co-founded by Khan-Cullors had taken in millions of dollars in contributions meant to be shared with local chapters, but claimed that the money has not made it back down to the grassroots level.
Khan-Cullors was the sole board member of BLMGNF, according to the statement.
The group’s founder pledged to focus on “economic justice” in 2021 and said the organization would use the funds that had been raised to build out the organization.
But the scandal surrounding Khan-Cullors real estate purchases broke shortly thereafter and she resigned from the organization under a cloud, the New York Post reported.
Holly Matkin
